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No instructor likes to face the prospect of handling an incident of
suspected cheating by a student. Here are some ideas, drawn from the
experience of others, which may assist.
Sometimes you may be faced with a situation in which you wish to intervene
immediately to address potential misconduct.
- During an Exam.
- Many faculty members take special care to emphasize how seriously
they take the Honor Code before distributing exams to set the
tone. For example, you can reiterate the reasons why the Code
exists, require everyone to sign the Honor Pledge before you
leave the room, indicate that you will not grade any paper on
which the Pledge is not signed, reiterate the high expectations
you have of them and your own obligation to comply with the Honor
System by reporting suspected misconduct). More suggestions on
preventing and deterring misconduct during exams are available
in the faculty advice section of
this website.
- If you observe students acting in a suspicious fashion you
need to decide whether to wait and gather evidence of what actually
transpires or intervene to deter the possibility of misconduct.
If students appear to acting in suspicious ways during the course
of an examination, it is probably best to walk around the room
and make eye contact, ask them to move their seat, remind them
that no talking is allowed, or otherwise prevent the problem
from continuing (at the very least so others are not distracted
and do not think that you will condone such behavior). You can
also use a “spot check” strategy, such as telling
students when you distribute the exam that you will be checking
in from time to time to see if they have questions at various
points during the exam period, then doing so. Even if you act
to interrupt what appears to be potential cheating, you can also
take steps outlined below to document your observations, meet
with the students involved and report the suspected misconduct
so that the Student Attorney General can have a record of the
activity in the event that occurs again.
- Classroom Disruption.
Sometimes, students may engage in disruptive behavior during class or laboratory
activity itself, conduct that may in itself violate some portion of the
Honor Code other than the provisions relating to academic misconduct. See
the links on the resources page for specific
guidance on dealing with such problems.
More often, you will become suspicious that academic misconduct
has occurred only after the fact. In such circumstances, it is particularly
useful to meet with the student in question prior to submitting the report
form describing the suspected Honor Code violation. Faculty members
are encouraged by Faculty Council resolution to consider meeting with
students suspected of misconduct so that the instructor has the opportunity
to make a full assessment of what happened, and retains the opportunity
to employ this “teachable moment” to educate the student
what they did wrong and how to avoid future problems. Some faculty members
may hesitate to take this opportunity because they think that the meeting
will prove difficult. Here are some suggestions on how to make such meetings
proceed relatively smoothly.
- Prepare for the discussion by reviewing policies and facts.
- Familiarize yourself with the prohibitions on academic misconduct
contained in the Honor Code itself and the information you will
need to complete the form for reporting
suspected academic misconduct. If you want clarification
or guidance, contact the Student Attorney
General, Judicial Programs Office,
or a member of the Faculty Honor System Advisory Committee. Also
review the procedural protections afforded students under the
System so that you may reference them or advise the student to
seek specific guidance on these points from the Student Attorney
General.
- Think carefully about the basis for your suspicion of misconduct
and make careful notes about what you already know and what you’ll
want to find out or explore. For example, ask yourself:
- What conduct you observed or other evidence you have
that has given rise to your suspicion: Did the student
in question do something in particular? Was a paper submission
out of character with prior work or was language use uncharacteristic?
If the conduct occurred in connection with a classroom
examination, what did you observe about the conduct of
this student and others?
- What your expectations have been about conduct of this
sort and how you have expressed them to student: Were particular
instructions given with regard to the assignment or examination?
How did the conduct run afoul of your expectations?
- What additional information you may need or want to consider
before proceeding to meet with the student or report the
suspected misconduct: Do you want to check student work
through use of an on-line resource? Do you want to review
other students’ papers once again? Do you want to talk
with a colleague about his or her own experience with similar
circumstances? If you’re uncertain about your assessment
of the situation, exactly what questions do you think you
want resolved?
- Set up a meeting with the student if you believe it would
be worthwhile.
- Act as promptly as feasible. You may choose to meet with the
student either before or after submitting a report of the suspected
misconduct, but many faculty members have found it more useful
to arrange such a meeting immediately in order to get pertinent
information that may prove helpful in completing the report
form (including information on what happened, the type particular
type of violation in question, and the sanctions that they believe
should be imposed).
- Bear in mind the importance of confidentiality in making arrangements
for such a meeting. Consider returning a paper without a grade
along with a note on the student’s paper asking him or her to
set up a meeting. Catch the student alone after class, or drop
the student an e-mail note simply asking them to set up a meeting
time without getting into details. It is best not to leave phone
messages that might be overheard by others.
- Faculty members are not required to hold such meetings if they
believe that nothing would be gained from doing so, but many
report that such conferences with students are very worthwhile.
If you have questions about whether to opt for this strategy
and how to proceed, please contact the Student Attorney General,
Judicial Programs Office or Faculty Advisory Committee for assistance
as noted above.
- Develop a strategy for discussion with which you are comfortable.
- Plan your opening and use a simple, factual statement of where
things stand:
- “I asked you to come in because I have some questions
about your paper. It seems very much like an article with
which I’m familiar but that article isn’t referenced.” (OR) “I
checked some of your sources but I can’t seem to
find them.” (OR) “I’m concerned because
your paper looks a great deal like someone else’s
in the class.” (OR) “I found your work on this
paper somewhat surprising since the language doesn’t
sound like you and the formatting is unusual.”
- “I asked you to come in because I had a report
that you seemed to be looking at someone else’s paper
during the exam and discovered some unusual similarities
between the papers.” (OR) “I had a report from
one of the class that you and some other students seemed
to be sitting together in the library working on the take-home
exam. As you know, the instructions specified that you
were not allowed to collaborate on this project.”
- Think through the kind of questions you want to use to pursue
the matter.
- Open-ended: Perhaps you could explain your research process
on the paper (OR) Can you explain what happened when you
sat down to take the exam (OR) Can you tell me how you
went about working on the take-home?
- Closed-ended: “Are you familiar with the article by x” (OR) “Where
can I find the sources you listed?” (OR) Were you looking
at your neighbor’s paper during the exam?”
- Directive statements: “Please tell me about how your
developed the thesis for this paper” (OR) “Please show
me how you worked that problem.”
- Prepare to use active listening techniques (asking questions,
listening to the student response, then paraphrasing so you are
sure that you grasped what the student was saying correctly).
Recognize that this session is one for information gathering
and discussion rather than one in which you need to be intimidating
to the student. Also remember that students can be confused and
adopting a “neutral” rather than judgmental stance is likely
to be more productive until such time as you reach a decision
about how you will ultimately proceed.
- Think through several possible scenarios that might arise as
the meeting progresses.
- Plan what you might say in the event of typical outcomes. For
example:
- The student may admit wrongdoing and you may need to
explain that you must nonetheless submit a report form
on the incident along with recommendations for sanction.
You can also urge the student to discuss with the Attorney
General the possibility of accepting responsibility for
the conduct and proceeding to an expedited hearing that
will assign a sanction very promptly so the student can
move on with his or her life.
- The student may deny wrongdoing in a defensive manner
and you may simply want to bring the matter to a close
by saying that you thought it best to give them an opportunity
to explain themselves but will now be submitting the report
form so that the Student Attorney General can take matters
from there.
- The student may also insist that he or she did not understand
that what they were doing was wrong. You can then talk
with them about the reasons that the conduct was nonetheless
wrong and discuss educational sanctions that you might
recommend in the report form (such as having the student
rewrite the assignment for its educational value while
receiving a failing grade on that component of the course).
- The student might also attempt to convince you not to
report the conduct, citing personal problems, extenuating
circumstances, difficulty in keeping up with the work and
so forth. You should probably acknowledge their explanations
by summarizing using active listening techniques, but are
probably best served by returning the conversation to your
basic outline which focuses on why the conduct was problematic
and how they should conduct themselves in the future. You
can tell the student that they will have an opportunity
to talk with the Student Attorney General about the extent
that such factors might have a bearing on the sanction
and indicate that you will provide any pertinent information
along with your report of the incident. You may also want
to advise the student about how they might proceed in the
face of similar problems in the future (for example, “It’s
better to contact me in advance if you’re sick and can’t
get the work done on time, rather than submitting someone
else’s assignment as your own”). If you think it advisable,
you may also wish to refer the student to other campus
resources such Campus Psychological Services that are identified
on the Dean of Students’ website.
- Hold the Meeting.
- Have an idea about how you will manage the time allotted for the
meeting and have a plan about how long you expect to meet. For example,
it’s probably a good idea to set an outside time limit for the meeting
(30 minutes is probably enough in most cases). You may also want
to advise the student of your time constraints at the start of the
meeting so that you have a shared understanding on this point (For
example, “I want to talk with you about a concern I have about your
paper. I have about 30 minutes available for this meeting. Is that
going to be okay with you?”). Do your best to avoid distractions
during the course of the session (for example, decide that you’ll
let voicemail handle the phone and post an “in conference” note on
your door if you generally do that).
- Conclude the meeting by explaining what will happen next. Faculty
policy states that faculty members are expected to report suspected
academic misconduct to the pertinent Student Attorney General so
that the Honor System can be used to make pertinent factual findings
and impose sanctions as appropriate. Faculty members may not impose
their own sanctions outside this process. Explain to the student
that you will be submitting a report to the Student Attorney General
that will include your summary of the facts and circumstances and
your recommendation about what should happen next. The student should
be encouraged to contact the Student Attorney General directly to
review the specific steps that the Student Attorney General will
take to reach a final decision on whether formal charges will be
brought, the assistance available to the student, and the details
of the procedures used by the Honor Court from there.
To report suspected instances of academic misconduct, use the convenient on-line
reporting form. Once the report is filed, the Student Attorney
General’s Office will automatically provide the student with
a copy of the report and will contact you to discuss the matter further
as needed.
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